Tuesday, 25 October 2011

As a first step in launching a national Share the Road project in Rwanda, a workshop took place on 11 October 2011 in Kigali, hosted by the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) in cooperation with UNEP. The meeting agreed to set up a multi-sector steering committee to implement a pilot project in Kigali showcasing infrasturcture for walking and cycling, with support from UNEP. The 'Share the Road' programme is initially focused on East Africa, in particular Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Global malaria deaths were reduced by 20% during the UN Decade to Roll Back Malaria, according to a report today from the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. Political commitment and increased funding support resulted in "the rapid scale-up of a variety of malaria control interventions [that]saved an estimated 1.1 million lives in Africa alone..."

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

This is International Walk to School week when millions of children and their parents are encouraged to try using two feet instead of four wheels for the school run and hopefully develop a year-round healthy habit. In support of many more children - who always walk to school - this is a Week that reinforces the importance of providing safe routes to school, organising community support like 'walking buses', and promoting the basic essentials of sidewalks, safe crossing points and lower speed limits for vehicles.

Safe routes to school are one of the foundations of a sustainable transportation policy, and the Road Safety Fund is proud to be supporting the work of Safe Kids Worldwide and its 'Walk This Way' project in ten countries through a donation from FedEx. It is a fundamentally important policy issue but can also be a lot of fun, and there were events across the world to mark the International Walk to School week - including the walk in Washington DC attended by US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (pictured) - and we're grateful to our friends at Sesame Street for getting Grover along to meet the children at one school in New York City (also pictured).

Monday, 3 October 2011

Innovate Solutions, a Malaysian road safety consultancy and one of the Road Safety Fund's new country-level donors, has taken the Decade Tag symbol to heart. Innovate Solutions is promoting the Decade of Action via a poster and banner campaign across Malaysia, and sponsored the Mont Kiara football club in the recent Borneo Cup tournament.

Saturday, 1 October 2011

The Make Roads Safe campaign has launched a call for prioritisation of road safety and sustainable transport to be part of the policy outcomes of next year's Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. Governments will meet in Rio in June 2012 to update the international sustainability agenda, twenty years on from the Rio 'Earth Summit' of 1992. The last equivalent meeting, in Johannesburg in 2002, played an important role in identifying priorities for the practical implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. To learn more about the 'Safer Roads at Rio+20' campaign visit the Make Roads Safe website or see the official Rio+20 website here .